On a warm autumn afternoon Dalziel welcomed Ardrossan to Dalziel Park for the first game between the clubs in 3 years. With the teams lying third and fourth in the league this had all the makings of a tight game.

Dalziel had once again to make changes to the side and David Aitken, starting the game at stand off, got the home side on the offensive from the kick off. Within a minute they came close to scoring through Fraser Stango who was just stopped short of the line. From the recycled ball Dalziel moved it quickly to Anton Mitchell who rounded two Ardrossan players to score in the corner. Robert Simpson narrowly missed the conversion and after 5 minutes the home side had a 5 to 0 lead.

Dalziel continued to mount attacks and came close from a penalty. Ardrossan managed to weather the storm and played themselves into the game. They were rewarded on 20 minutes with a penalty, which narrowed the score to 5 to 3. From the restart poor Dalziel defence allowed Ardrossan to take the game to the home sides 22. The visitors were awarded another penalty only for the kick to fall short. Dalziel immediately responded and pushed play to the Ardrossan 22 line forcing them to infringe. Simpson narrowly missed with the penalty kick. Dalziel continued to dominate possession and territory but as half time approached Ardrossan gained yardage and forced a Dalziel infringement. The ball was kicked between the posts and the away side went into half time leading by 6 points to 5.

From the restart the home side kept the pressure on the visitors half of the pitch looking for a weakness in the defence. Unfortunately Mitchell was injured during a passage of play and once again Dalziel, as so many times this season, were forced to rearrange the back division. Unable to penetrate the stubborn defence of Ardrossan and knowing that the referee was about to give a penalty Aitken had a drop at goal and the ball sailed between the posts to give Dalziel the lead of 8 to 6. From the restart Ardrossan tried to take play upfield but are met with stern defence. On 50 minutes the Motherwell men, through some strong running by Goldie, Reid, Watters, and Stewart, were now starting to find cracks in the visitors defence forcing them to infringe and Simpson knocked over the penalty to extend the lead to 11 to6.

On the 60 minute mark against the run of play Dalziel concede a penalty and Ardrossan kick the goal and narrow the lead to 11 to9. Dalziel immediately respond but for 10 minutes some very strong Ardrossan defence keeps the home side at bay. Donnachie and Baird are needlessly sin binned for the home side during this period and the visitors narrowly miss a penalty to regain the lead. Dalziel however could sense a victory and pushed downfield with some very good kicking from McAulay. Winning a lineout 10 meters out Craig Simmonds burst down the blind side from the resulting maul to go over for the home sides second and match winning try. Simpson knocked over the conversion to make the score 19 to 9. For the last 5 minutes the home side retained possession and denied the visitor a chance of a bonus point.

A good hard fought victory over a good Ardrossan outfit which keeps Dalziel third in the league and the top two sides in their sights. Well done to the coaches and players as constant changes to the team is a difficult thing to manage but the response has been fantastic. Wins for the seconds and thirds made it a good day for Team Dalziel